National(ist) Cakes and (Non)Consumption •

The economic uncertainty of the 2000s resulted in a rise of nationalism in many parts of Europe, including Hungary. The emerging popularity of the nationalist party Jobbik led to an excessive use of nationalist symbols in popular culture and consumption. Our paper explores one particular phenomenon: nationalist cakes. The analysis focuses on the content of a blog called nemzetitorta.tumblr.com, which has collected hundreds of pictures of cakes representing Hungarian national(ist) symbols (e.g. flags, national colours, and the imitation of traditional food). We explore the relationship between consumerism and nationalism and their reproduction in the Hungarian context. The essay draws on the notion that to be successful, ideology needs to rely on material reality (Althusser 1971, Varman, Belk 2009), and McClintock’s (1993) interpretation of nationalist symbols as part of the necessary spectacle in nationalist discourse, which, at the same time, represents material reality. Based on the analysis, we argue that the production of nationalist cakes poses some challenges to consumerism, however, the spectacle still contributes to the reproduction of the dominance of the consumerist discourse.